Anthony Weldon (12 November 1900 – 1953) was a Scottish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as an

inside left Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

for

Kilsyth Rangers Kilsyth Rangers Football Club are a Scottish football club based in the town of Kilsyth, North Lanarkshire. Nicknamed ''The Wee Gers'', they were formed in 1913 and play at Duncansfield Park, which used to be one of the bigger ''non-league'' f ...

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

, Everton,

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

Lovells Athletic Lovell's Athletic F.C. was the works team for Lovell's sweet factory in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales, which played professional football from 1918 until 1969. History Lovell's joined the Western Football League in 1923 and won the title in t ...

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

and Bangor.

Footballing career

Weldon played football in Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland, often spending only one season with a club. Raised in Croy, a village north of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Weldon started his footballing career with local side

before signing for

on 27 May 1924 for a transfer fee of £5. With Airdrieonians, such were his performances that he found himself picked for the first team ahead of Scottish international players,

Willie Russell William Fraser Russell (born 6 December 1901 in Falkirk) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as an inside right. He scored both goals for Airdrieonians in the 1924 Scottish Cup Final. Playing career Airdrieonians He formed part o ...

and

Hughie Gallacher Hugh Kilpatrick Gallacher (2 February 1903 – 11 June 1957) was a Scottish football player in the 1920s and 1930s. In 624 senior games, Gallacher scored 463 goals, playing senior league football for Airdrieonians, Newcastle United, Chelsea, ...

. He was part of the side that finished second in

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

two years running, in 1924–25 (four appearances) and 1925–26 (19 appearances and four goals), and scored 26 goals in 26 appearances as the club finished fourth in 1926–27. On 10 March 1927, he moved to England and Everton for a transfer fee of £2,000 where he remained until the end of 1929. Weldon's debut match for Everton, on 12 March 1927, saw his side win 2–1 against

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

. Weldon scored one of the goals, the other coming from Everton legend,

Dixie Dean William Ralph "Dixie" Dean (22 January 1907 – 1 March 1980) was an English footballer who played as a centre forward. He is regarded as one of the greatest centre-forwards of all time and was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in ...

. His time at Everton saw him play 74 games and score 13 goals and be part of the team which won the 1927–28 First Division. Signing for

for £1,000 in December 1929 he remained there until 1931 when he moved south to play for

. He made his debut on 29 August 1931 in a 1–0 away win against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

; his debut goal coming in his next game, a 3–1 home win against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. He lasted a single season playing 22 games in all competitions scoring four goals in a season which saw West Ham relegated to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

having finished in 22nd and bottom place in the First Division. In 1932, Weldon signed for Welsh side, Lovell's Athletic, then playing in the Western League. After a season he moved to

in the

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

, again only for one season. He next signed for

where he became player-coach but this lasted only a few months before he became player-manager of Bangor.

Personal life

Weldon died in 1953. He was the father-in-law of footballer

Jim Storrie James Storrie (31 March 1940 – 11 November 2014) was a Scottish professional footballer and manager, best known as a centre forward who helped Leeds United gain promotion in 1964 to the First Division. Playing career Born in Kirkintilloch, D ...

, who also played for Airdrieonians but was possibly best known as a Leeds United player of the 1960s.Jim Storrie - The laughing cavalier
The Mighty Mighty Whites. Retrieved 2 July 2021

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weldon, Tony 1900 births 1953 deaths Scottish footballers Footballers from North Lanarkshire West Ham United F.C. players Everton F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players Lovell's Athletic F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Dundalk F.C. players Bangor F.C. players Bangor F.C. managers Kilsyth Rangers F.C. players Scottish football managers League of Ireland players Association football inside forwards Date of death missing Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players Western Football League players Scottish expatriate footballers Expatriate association footballers in the Republic of Ireland People from Croy